Online gamer Kristina Fincham settles World of Warcraft gold farming case against AAMI mid-trial

Kristina Fincham, 45, had lodged legal action against AAMI in the District Court , accusing it of reneging on her house and contents policy. Employed by day as a nurse, Ms Fincham made $75,000 at night playing games like World of Warcraft, EVE Online and Ultima Online. Instead of playing for fun, Ms Fincham was a ""gold farmer"" - a player who performs mundane tasks, such as repeatedly killing a monster, in order to horde rare in-game items. She then sold those virtual weapons, suits of armour, spaceships and in-game currency to other players for real money, and in turn bought 75 bars of real gold bullion with her profits. Gold farming is a $USD900 million a year industry, considered a full-time job in China and South Korea. Income from gold farming has been recognised as an income source by the Australian Taxation Office since 2006. Ms Fincham claimed her bullion had been stolen in a March 2008 burglary organised by her then-boyfriend, who she had met online, while she was interstate.wow gold. She sued AAMI when it refused to pay out her resultant claim - the insurer then countersued, accusing her of staging the theft in order to commit insurance fraud. During the trial, the court heard gold farming was not considered illegal under international law. Judge Sydney Tilmouth was told game developers and operators discouraged the practice, banning players caught exchanging virtual items for cash. Today Craig McCarthy, for AAMI, said there was no longer a need for a trial. ""I advise Your Honour that the matter has resolved,"" he said. ""The terms of the settlement are confidential but the parties have signed those terms. ""As part of the terms, we ask Your Honour to dismiss both the claim and counterclaim forthwith, with no order as to costs.""